Those involved in photography, either as a hobby, or on a professional basis, are confronted with the need to store strips of film negatives in a manner in which negatives of interest can be retrieved from storage, for example, to obtain further prints therefrom.
Many photographers have their exposed film commercially developed, the film being returned by the processors thereof in the form of strips of film negatives, each strip containing a number of exposures thereon. Depending on the processor, these film strips are sometimes packaged in sheets of transparent sleeves, each sheet comprising multiple sleeves, connected in side-by-side relationship. In other instances, however, the developed film is simply returned in the form of loose strips of negatives packaged in an envelope. The latter form is particularly undesirable since the negatives are vulnerable to scratching, the occurrence of which makes its difficult if not impossible to obtain additional acceptable prints therefrom. Furthermore, in both cases, the negatives are accompanied only by the prints made from the negatives, and when these are removed from the package, the subject matter of the negatives can only be ascertained by the laborious process of individual examination of the negatives.
In instances where the individual concern has no interest in the pictures other than the prints initially received from the processor, or where the negatives which the individual wishes to retain are minimal, retrieval of a desired picture by examination of the negatives is a relatively simple task. Where, however, the individual is extensively engaged in photography and desires to retain relatively large numbers of negatives for possible further reference, or further prints, the identification of a particular picture from a large negative archive through individual examination of the negatives becomes arduous to the point of being impractical.
In attempts to overcome the difficulty described, it has been suggested that the sleeved picture negatives be packaged together with a proof print, thereby facilitating identification of the pictures associated with the negatives. While such a system has the merit of making negative retrieval simply a matter of scanning the proof print, it is not without practical difficulties.
For instance, a 4".times.6" proof print is conveniently sized both from the standpoint of handling and storage, as well as viewing; however, a film package of that size is limited in its capacity to accommodate negatives associated therewith, for example, those laminated to the back of the proof print, a convenient type of storage package. In this regard, a package of such dimensions is, for instance, adapted to store only two strips of 35 mm film having four image frames on each strip. Ordinarily, however, the unexposed film comes in rolls containing a minimum of twenty-four, occasionally twenty-eight exposures. Consequently, packages of the size mentioned, are incapable of holding all of the negatives contained on such rolls.
While a larger proof print, for instance, one measuring 6".times.8.5" could have 28 pictures, printed thereon, the larger format is much less convenient to store and handle than the 4".times.6" package, and furthermore, such a format would still be too small to hold seven strips of sleeved negatives laminated to the rear surface of the proof print.